The first one shows off a lion’s mane wonderfully well. Such a handsome, proud animal. He is enjoying the warm breeze blowing across the plain. He is probably resting on an elevated rock so he can look across his domain. Nothing preys on the lion. All they have to do is stay healthy and avoid injury when hunting.
The male lion’s mane is important to him. Lions with darker manes are sexually active for longer. I guess the ladies know that. Lions with longer and bigger manes are preferred by females. The lion’s mane is unique. It makes the male lion appear intimidating and can be seen from afar. The mane protects the lion in fights. Experts believe that lions can recognize each other by their manes.
You can read more about the lion’s mane on this page if you wish.
The second picture is very charming. It seems that the lioness is more or less asking her son/daughter to wash her eyes. These two could be domestic cats. We all know that the domestic and wild cat are 99.9% the same.
It is a shame the lion population is declining in Africa. Where once they roamed over most of the continent their range is now highly fragmented. What remains is a mass of relatively small areas as the ever expanding population growth of the human encroaches upon the lion’s landscape pushing him out.
Note: can someone tell me who took these photos so I can credit them? The modern internet seems to have done away with credits and copyright.
These are incredibly sweet pictures. The male lion reminds me so much of Red. He was a little lion. I know I see everything in terms of him but the male lion in photo looks like him with his eyes closed and this sort of trusting expression. He would do that, sit with his eyes closed when he was really happy and satisfied after a nice sleep or meal and a rest.
The baby and mama is very sweet. Seeing the sweetness and gentleness of animals no matter their size or potential gives me a feeling of great sadness. Because it’s so very precious and beautiful and yet it is so completely threatened by the stone cold heart of humanity. It seems like their innocence and gentleness and their babies are the most important things in the world to me. Nothing should ever get in the way of these creatures and their famillies and their young ones. That anyone would ever cause any harm to this outside of the pre-existing laws of animal nature, (which is also harsh), is a tragedy that leaves me feeling very hopeless and sad when I see pictures like these. But they are beautiful and they will live another day. Thats all there is left for any of us now anyway. Perhaps the sun should hurry up and burn out in order to prevent any more of the horrible things that happen here from playing out, day after day. Maybe we have done too much already and the picture would simply be more beautiful without life on earth. It’s entirely possible.
These are really beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing them Michael 🙂
Aren’t lions beautiful? They are number one in Africa except for Mr Human.